Mary's New Adventures in Oregon

by Tanya Popovich, age 15

Mary lives in a neighborhood where dreams come true. Though her house isn't big, it's very comfortable, especially her bedroom. The color of it is baby purple.

One time when Rosa, her best friend, came to her house she asked Mary, "Why did you choose baby purple?"

Mary answered: “Because I love that color and I love unicorns, purple and unicorns go together! Right?"

“Yes, I agree because I like that color too,” said Rosa.

When you walk into Mary’s room you see pink, light blue, light purple unicorns. It’s such a gorgeous room. Well let’s leave her room alone and get to the fun part.

The real story begins outside. Outside of Mary's bedroom is a beautiful big tree, its green leaves shine in the golden yellow sun. Every morning the singing of the birds wakes up Mary. The sun shines in her eyes as she gets ready for school. In school the young girl and her friends enjoy the day, learning, playing, and laughing. After school they love to play hide and seek. They climb trees, hide in big beautiful bushes..... Besides their favorite game, Mary and her friends love to read stories out loud. Let's leave them alone. In the meantime, here's a little bit more about the outside: trees, flowers, grass, and more plants outside Mary's house.

But, her neighborhood wasn't always like this. There was a time when the owner of their house didn’t allow pets, but Mary really wanted a puppy. It's a long story how the young girl changed John’s, the owner's, heart toward pets. Want to know the story? Sit down, get comfortable, and let's begin.

One time a little girl named Mary was born. Years passed and the girl really wanted a pet puppy. She told her parents about it, but unfortunately they ignored her. The next day Mary tried talking to her mom again. This time Elizabeth, her mom, listened to her, because she also wanted a dog or a puppy.

The next day when Mary woke up, she saw her father looking at her.

“Hi, dad,” she said.

“Sweetie… I tried talking to John, but he didn’t even want to listen to me. I’m sorry,” answered her father.

“Oh it’s all right, I’ll talk to him. He might listen to me.”

“Go ahead and talk to him.”

“Thanks,” Mary kissed her father good morning.

What a beautiful day Mary told to the birds when her father left. The birds always brought her happiness.

At breakfast there was a call. It was John. Elizabeth talked with him for a very long time, then she called Mary. “Yes, mom, she answered.”

"Come, sweetie< Mr. John wants to talk to you.”

Mary’s heart was pounding hard when she held the phone in her hands. “Hello,” she said.

Hello, my dear girl. So I hear you want a pet dog, is that right?” John said with a laugh in his voice.

“Yes sir I…… I…. I want puppy because they're so cute and I always can play with them when I’m bored. So please let us buy a puppy, please,” said Mary almost crying.

“I’ll think about it,” came a creepy voice from the phone.

“Well, sweetie?” her parents said in one voice.

“He said he’ll think about it."

A week passed when finally they received a telephone call from John. He said that he will allow them to have dog in their home under one rule. Everything stays nice and clean in his house. Of course the house would always be clean, no need to worry.

So Mary, her family and friends had a lot of fun playing with the cute fuzzy ball. One of his names was Snow because he was as white as snow. The others were Brownie, the third was Mr. Fuzzy. How much fun the young girl had now!

I remember

by Vladimir Kolombet, age 16

I am from Russia with love.
Where I come from is a dark place.
What I've seen with my own eyes will never be forgotten.
People change either into good or bad,
but from what I've heard and gone through,
I know I will stay the same.
I am from my country, not the country I am in now.
And if anyone saw that through my eyes,
they would never be the same.
I am from the green crispy hundred dollar bill.
A million-dollar ticket.
I remember the little figurines
behind glass that we had in our living room.
We also had a big rug with lots of cool designs.
It was hanging on the wall in the living room.
And in our yard, we had tomatoes and pickles growing
and me and my brothers would have to
go around the whole yard, taking bugs
off the plants, so they wouldn't eat them.
It was a lot of work.
I remember my brother found fifty rubels
in our front yard where we had flowers growing.
We went to the little store up the street
and bought lots of ice cream.
Everything I remember from Russia
that me and my brothers did was really fun.
Except when we told our mom that we found fifty rubels and spent it.
She really got mad because we didn't have a lot of money.
Then I remember when my uncle gave me a toy.
It was a truck with a trailer on the back.
I played with that toy for a very long time until it broke.
Back then I didn't know lots of kinds of food
except soup and meat.
I didn't know what a burger was or pizza
and most food I eat now I didn't know about back then.
I didn't have lots of toys,
but I do remember we had a thing that you punch
to practice fighting
and a bunch of dumbells.
If I'd had everything there that I have here,
I would have been happier.